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Australian basketball player Isaac Humphries comes out as gay

The Australian center is now the only openly gay player at the top level of basketball.

By Alastair James

Issac Humphries
Issac Humphries has come out as gay, becoming the only openly gay top level basketball player (Image: Ian Knight/Melbourne United)

The Australian basketball player, Isaac Humphries, has come out as gay, becoming the only openly gay man playing at the top levels of the sport.

In an interview with CNN, Isaac, 24, announces, “I’m gay” which he says is a truth he has hidden his whole life and wanted to deny.

He explains that he’s coming out because he believes, “I can be who I am in my environment and I can change the trajectory of how we view being gay in sport and be a role model for anybody.”

Speaking with Amanda Davies Isaac says saying it out loud is “pretty mind blowing” and not something he saw happening. “It feels really overwhelming to be honest with you,” he adds.

He details isolating himself from everyone in his life and reveals it was “concerning what level I got to. Once it hit me that this is who I was and there was no changing it and I couldn’t change it no matter how hard I tried I fell into a very dark place and a very lonely place.

“It’s real. Hating yourself is real and it doesn’t make you feel great when you look at yourself in the mirror and hate every single thing about you on the inside.”

Asked about how dark it got Issac says “it got as bad as it could get”.

Isaac continues, “It got so dark that I absolutely thought about exiting this world. I didn’t want to exist like this. I didn’t think I was allowed to exist like this within my basketball world. But it also [it] was a big reason that I am here still.”

Issac Humphries
Issac Humphries playing in Melbourne United vs South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena on Sunday, 6 November 2022. (Image: Ian Knight/Melbourne United)

He then shares that he no longer feels that way and is proud of himself and how far he’s come in his journey. Isaac Humphries credits his love of basketball with helping turn things around and realising he could be out and a basketball player at the same time.

“I’m essentially starting a new life and it’s like a birthday. I can’t believe this is happening and from how dark I was to now is night and day. And I’m super grateful for that.”

Isaac also discusses providing representation for people of all ages that they’re not alone. “I’m living proof that you can be that. You can be whatever you want.”

He details a masculine environment in basketball and is slightly behind the rest of the world when it comes to progress. He seeks to normalise people coming out and feeling comfortable in the sport and in the changing rooms.

Isaac goes further by saying that, as a sport, basketball is homophobic but he thinks it’s (mostly) not intentional.

“I think that’s something very important that I’ve had to differentiate. It is a part of locker room culture, it’s not an intentional way to hurt anybody. Unfortunately in that room, in our culture, they don’t expect to have gay people around them and they don’t know the impact it’s having on people who are closeted.”

Issac Humphries
Issac Humphries playing in Melbourne United vs South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena on Sunday, 6 November 2022. (Image: Ian Knight/Melbourne United)

Isaac hopes his coming out makes people realise they can be who they are in basketball and in sport generally.

Describing losing “25 years of weight” as “euphoric” Isaac says it’s an “amazing feeling to not have to hide every single day. To not have to pretend. To not have to make up stories and lies and essentially lie to the closest people you love but also yourself.”

Asked about how he’ll feel on the court next time he’s playing Isaac shares that he has made sure his family is nearby and will be playing alongside friends on his old team.

“I’ll be surrounded by people I truly love and who want the best for me. And I’ll be doing something that I love. It’s a moment that I, for so long, never ever thought would happen. But, now it’s here and it’s unbelievable to me. It will be one of the most special moments of my life.”

In an opinion piece with CNN, Isaac elaborates on having to fit in and being resigned to that having no examples of anything different to follow. He refers again to an attempt to take his own life, clarifying it was towards the end of 2020.

He says the next season old leg injuries reemerged and recovering in Los Angeles gave him a chance to experience the LGBTQ community, something he’d missed at school and in sport. “For the first time in my life, I saw that people at the top of their game can be open and honest about who they are, and that came with a visceral and contagious happiness,” Issac writes.

Experiencing the liberation he felt in LA gave him the courage to make a change in his own life, and now in sports.

“My journey to get to this point in my life was harder than it should’ve been, but I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Isaac Humphries says. “Without those dark points, I wouldn’t have been thrust into situations where I had to explore, discover and learn to accept who I really am.

“If there are negative aspects that come with my decision to come out, I’ll take those barbs so others don’t have to; as long as it means we make progress along the way and kids in particular feel they can be whoever they want.”

Issac Humphries
Issac Humphries playing in Melbourne United vs South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena on Sunday, 6 November 2022. (Image: Ian Knight/Melbourne United) Image Copyright 2022 Ian Knight/Melbourne United

He closes by thanking his team, Melbourne United, and encouraging other sports teams to be more empathetic and foster welcoming environments.

“I know what it feels like to grow up in an environment that doesn’t feel welcoming, and I want to do my part to make sure basketball is no longer one of them.”

In an emotional video posted to his social media, Isaac comes out to his teammates, and explains his story as well as his hopes that as athletes they can all inspire people.

Issac’s journey follows that of Australian footballer, Josh Cavallo, who came out as gay last October, then becoming the only openly gay footballer at the top levels of the sport. Josh went on to inspire Jake Daniels and Zander Murray and more to come out in football.

Isaac Humphries plays for Melbourne United and is part of Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL). He previously played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats.